Have you ever read a blog post and felt like such a slouch for leaving so many points/miles on the table? I have, and it’s embarrassing. Especially when with very little effort and a slight change in my thinking, those points could be where they belong… in my account! We all know that using a credit card that offers bonus points for dining is the number one way NOT to leave points on the table. But there are many other ways to accrue miles and points for dining out that I’ve been neglecting, and that’s not good. Lee at Bald Thoughts wrote a great piece about making the most of eating out to build up those miles and points.
Image source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/18999629662316428/
Lee lays out 9 different strategies, and I’m sorry to say I only use 4 of them! See why I’m embarrassed?
Lee says they take minimal effort, and I agree. Paying attention to many of the miles and points earning strategies we can use, what I might call low hanging fruit, often gets overlooked and we get lazy about using them. Sure, the miles and points might not accrue very quickly, but they do accrue overtime. That’s what Lee’s article reminded me of and I’m taking a vow and making notes from his post to get my new actions grooved in. That’s what’s so much fun about the miles and points hobby: there’s always something to learn and something to get better at!
When you go out to eat what are your favorite ways to maximize the reward miles/points?
Thanks for sharing Shelli. I hope TWG readers can learn something new and get that much closer to their next vacation!
Most welcome, Lee. When someone writes a better post than I can on the topic, I’m happy to show TWG readers where they can find it:)
I think Lee’s post has some good points. I guess the question is whether it’s worth it to actively pursue all of the options. Personally, I’ve used most of these at some point. There are some major shortcoming with many of these choices, though. For instance, I’m happy to accept cash and use my card, but normally people pay with their own cards these days. Groupon can be a great deal, but it tends to work on low dollar deals, like $5 off $15 or something like that. On the survey front, I’m not offered any miles. None of this changes the fact that he comes up with some good points, just that doing all of them is difficult at best and certainly no reason to be embarrassed.
Thanks for such a thoughtful comment, Christian. You’re right, doing what’s easiest comes first, then deciding if the more time consuming ways make sense. I do still find that a lot of people use cash at restaurants, so that works well for me.